Radio Atlantic, IA – AM 1220

Iowa’s Governor, Lt. Gov, encourage schools to set up Skype chat

August 14th, 2012 by Ric Hanson

Governor Terry Branstad and Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds opened their weekly news conference Monday speaking to reporters in a conference room via Skype from the governor’s office. “As kids start picking up their school supplies, packing their backpacks, boarding the bus, we’re announcing a new initiative called Skype your School, and hope that classrooms across the state will take part in this initiative,” Branstad said. Schools that sign up can talk with the governor or lieutenant governor via Skype. “We’re hopeful that students will find this to be fun, informative, and a innovative exercise,” according to Branstad.

Lieutenant Governor Reynolds is leading the state STEM task force that seeks to improve education in science, technology, engineering and math. “We want students to continue to be excited about technology as well as civics and government, and we hope that our participation helps raise their interest level,” Reynolds explains. “We’re excited to partner with Iowa schools to utilize a relatively new technology that is becoming more and more available to the general public, and that’s Skype.” Reynolds said it is easy to schedule a Skype discussion.

“To request a Skype Your School classroom chat, teachers or administrators and students are encouraged to click on the featured image at the governor’s website, governor-dot-Iowa-dot-gove,” Reynolds said. She said you can also go to the comment section on Facebook, either the governor’s or her Facebook page or through Twitter at the hashtag: SkypeYourSchool. The governor and lieutenant governor have already done several Skype chats with students, and said they want to be sure that every school has that opportunity.